oukewldave:What is "merging too soon" mean? You have a sign two miles before the end of the lane that it is ending. At that point, you should be looking for a chance to move out of your lane during those two miles. No one is advocating diving in to the adjacent lane as soon as they are seeing these signs. You continue to drive and find an opening to safely move over. People are commenting on the dbags who feel they are too important to sit in the slower lane and drive until they can't anymore on the lane that is closing, then push their way in.

I've seen on the road and seen here on Fark people earnestly advocating merging halfway over as soon as the sign comes up. Not all the way, but halfway, so that they make sure to block any "bad behavior" in the other lane.

snocone:phamwaa: Super Chronic: Sorry to hear that. Allstate has been really good to me over the years, though. (On my homeowners policy, anyway.) Probably a lot depends on who you deal with, unfortunately, and that goes for every company.

Agreed that some pricks cause problems because they're simply pricks, but it still reflects on the company as a whole.

<Not so csb>We decided to switch from Allstate to a more reasonably-priced insurer, since Allstate had been steadily jacking our premium beyond all reason. We had paid for the homeowner insurance and were two months into the term when we switched. The sweetheart agent at Allstate immediately informed the mortgage company that our policy had lapsed, and the mortgage company slapped on their own policy and placed it in escrow.

After two further months of fighting this, we said "screw it" and paid off the mortgage. So, no more interest for you, Suntrust.

We received a check for the overpaid mortgage balance: $0.01. I framed it and I hope it farks over their accounting.</Not so csb>

Was not the agent. The cancel notice is demanded by law and automatic.Have you not learned that the mortgagor owns the house?

What the fark don't you understand about "We paid the premium"? The agent was being a dick. Instead of reporting the date we ended the coverage, they reported the beginning of the term. Fark them with a hot poker.

Cutting someone off to merge to the right or crossing a white line like this is assholish, no question. At least in the Portland, OR area, people leave 10+ car length gaps (at 5MPH) between them and cars in front of them (that shouldn't), and if someone takes advantage of that gap, I have no problem with it. In fact, the guy leaving the huge gap at low speeds is the problem, as it causes traffic backups that last for miles/hours and hugely inconsiderate of all other people on the road.

06Wahoo:Now, I've seen the arguments. "Oh, don't just jump over idiot". Of course not. No one is arguing that. But you whine that it creates a choke point, which, let's face it, is going to happen later anyway. When you've got two miles to merge, watch for a good time to merge over, and do it earlier. Realistically, that is more than enough time for people to get over without impeding on other drivers, and by the time the merge comes up, everyone may be moving slower, but at least it isn't stop and go as people have to zipper their way in when forced to at the end. It is just frustrating that some people just plain seem oblivious to this, again, not paying attention.

Difficulty: Traffic isn't really caused by choke points, they're just one of many common reasons. The real cause is bad driving, and that can happen anywhere; all it takes is one person slamming on their brakes for a jam to reverberate back quite far. It's just as likely to happen somewhere along that two mile merge length as it is for the two miles on construction beyond, and you'd be much better off avoiding it by taken the free lane as far as you can. This isn't even just assholish cutting, it's just being unwilling to share in self-created pain by people underutilizing a lane. More than once I've passed up a stopped stretch of car in a merge lane only to find a relatively free-flowing section ahead, and merged in at speed without stopping anyong; not always, but it happens. Why subject yourself unnecessarily?

aerojockey:PainInTheASP: Now if they would only start ticketing the assholes who ignore miles of "Lane Closed" signs and force their way into the proper lane at the last second.

Look in the mirror, pal.

The real assholes are people like you who see "lane closed two miles ahead" and switch lanes right away. All that ends up doing it causing traffic to needlessly to back up for miles. The correct time to merge is about 1000 feet ahead of the lane closure. When you go through a construction zone you will see signs like "lange closed 2 miles ahead": nothing about merging now. Sometimes you'll see "merge in 2000 feet": explicitly saying not to merge now but to get ready to merge. Sometimes you see "use both lanes" signs. Doesn't matter. You assholes ignore these signs and merge into a single lane way too early, backing up traffic for everyone.

At about 1000 feet before the lane closure you see signs "merge left" or "merge right". That's when it's time to merge. Any signs you see before this are just telling you to get ready.

Indeed. Get ready. which the assholes rushing up to the front of the line aren't doing. That is the point folks are making. No one is telling them to get over yet, just to not wait until the very farking end when you have clearly had miles of warning, dumbass.

foxyshadis:Difficulty: Traffic isn't really caused by choke points, they're just one of many common reasons. The real cause is bad driving, and that can happen anywhere; all it takes is one person slamming on their brakes for a jam to reverberate back quite far

That's what happens when every car is 5 feet behind the car in front of them.

ReverendJynxed:Indeed. Get ready. which the assholes rushing up to the front of the line aren't doing. That is the point folks are making. No one is telling them to get over yet, just to not wait until the very farking end when you have clearly had miles of warning, dumbass.

Actually, more than one person has said to begin the process of merging as soon as you are aware of a lane closure ahead, without regard to whether the signage tells you to merge or not. But they're not saying actually merge right away, you have to wait for an opening first. Which takes like, what, ten seconds? Whatever.

I say you should refuse to merge (that is, you should obey the "use both lanes" sign) until you see a sign actually telling you to merge. Which you never see more than 2000 ft ahead of lane closure. For a reason.

Most of the assholes that rush up to the front of the line are doing so because you enable them to. If everyone stayed in their lane until the correct merge point (which is 1000 ft or so before the closure) then the assholes wouldn't be able to do that, or at best would be able to get past only a few cars.

foxyshadis:What's bizarre is that this is a relatively recent phenomenon, though. Los Angeles had insanely short on-ramps from the 40's to roughly the late 70's to early 90's, when they went on a reconstruction binge. You had to stomp the gas to get up to speed, and still do in some places. I don't know if it's gas prices or hypermiling or people desperate to keep the little "green" indicator going on their Leaf or Prius, but it's looney tunes that we have several times the power of an old hot rod in every low-end family sedan now (at ten or more times the gas mileage) but people still drive as if they're behind the wheel of a Volvo 240.

It's people not wanting to "gun it", on the belief that "gunning it" is bad to the car. Or maybe that it risks spinning the tires. Flooring the accelerator while at a complete stop might be bad for your car (maybe) but simply accelarating at a reasonable level from a stop is not "gunning it". But almost no one accelerates till they're about halfway through the intersection.

Don't come to Fresno if you get frustrated over traffic lights, though. Unsensored lights timed for rush hour traffic (including minute-long protected lefts) at 3 am will leave you pondering the chances of a cop spotting you, since no one else is around to notice.

I spent a week back in Pittsburgh, and the lights irritated me because they weren't timed well (though better than in Cincinnati) but when the light turned green at least people in front of me actually started moving.

pla:lack of warmth : If you are paying attention to what may affect the car ahead of you, then your reaction time should be the same as that driver.

You've hit on the real problem right there - Having the same reaction time as the driver ahead of you doesn't mean you start slowing down at the same time. You assume you both react to the same cue, but what if the driver ahead of you just randomly stomps on his brakes (not as unlikely as it sounds, if he got distracted for half a second and then noticed he had gotten too close to the next car ahead)?

So, at 30MPH, you move at 44 feet per second. For someone paying close attention, they will consciously notice the brake lights after 150-300ms; decide to follow suit over the next 150-300ms; then implement that plan in... yes, another 150-300ms. A young twitch-gamer might beat that by 50%, and a fogie might double it, but in the real world that describes how long it really does take for most people to begin slowing down in response to a change ahead of them: 0.5 to 1 full second.

At a 10ft following distance, at 30MPH, you would need to react in less than 230ms. Even that obnoxious 17YO that can frags you before you can even read the announcement he joined your game, can't realistically manage that. As a consequence, in bumper-to-bumper traffic flowing at 20-40MPH... When someone suddenly stomps on their brakes, an accident does happen, almost unavoidably.

If you are paying attention only to the tail lights of the driver in front of you, then you are NOT paying attention to a lot of things. I watch every aspect of everything going on in my path. I anticipate what will affect the driver in front of me, the driver in front of him and anything else going on as far my eye can see. I have many times saw something working into play and I let off the gas well before the driver in front me has seen it and applied brakes. This is how driving somewhat close to someone can work. I don't wait for other drivers to affect me, I affect the outcome. If you are only concerned with the immediate area surrounding your car, then you are near sighted.

Big Ramifications:Pocket Ninja: If a driver is able to get away with this manuever, what's happened is that he's identified you as a passive, simpering, frightened fawn of a motorist and is simply exploiting your weakness. No driver worth the space he occupies on the road allows this to happen -- alpha drivers ensure that any such attempt merely ends with the cutter being stuck in the left-hand lane, impotent, weak, defeated.~~

Except if the driver attempting to cut in is a SOCIOPATH [2% of the population?] or a FARKING MORON [half the population, heh] who is willing to come to a complete stop with their indicator flashing until some chump lets them in. Don't you hate it when you see it unfold a few cars in front of you? For every UNCONSCIONABLY RUDE and selfish driver there is always someone willing to let them in. Drives me nuts.

Part of my frustration is because I'm simply curious to see how long these type of self-centred folk are willing to hold up the traffic behind them before they give up, and finally move with the lane's intended flow and take the next exit. But sure as anything: some weak-assed sucker will let them cut in before 10 seconds elapses.

As someone who deals with the Gowanus to the BQE interchange in NYC a couple times per week - the answer is forever. They will wait forever. And stop traffic going in to the tunnel until a truck or bus, who isn't tailgating, lets them in. These are the cases people DO cut in line and simply hold up traffic until someone lets them cut in line .

MarkEC:pla: lack of warmth : If you are paying attention to what may affect the car ahead of you, then your reaction time should be the same as that driver.

You've hit on the real problem right there - Having the same reaction time as the driver ahead of you doesn't mean you start slowing down at the same time. You assume you both react to the same cue, but what if the driver ahead of you just randomly stomps on his brakes (not as unlikely as it sounds, if he got distracted for half a second and then noticed he had gotten too close to the next car ahead)?

So, at 30MPH, you move at 44 feet per second. For someone paying close attention, they will consciously notice the brake lights after 150-300ms; decide to follow suit over the next 150-300ms; then implement that plan in... yes, another 150-300ms. A young twitch-gamer might beat that by 50%, and a fogie might double it, but in the real world that describes how long it really does take for most people to begin slowing down in response to a change ahead of them: 0.5 to 1 full second.

At a 10ft following distance, at 30MPH, you would need to react in less than 230ms. Even that obnoxious 17YO that can frags you before you can even read the announcement he joined your game, can't realistically manage that. As a consequence, in bumper-to-bumper traffic flowing at 20-40MPH... When someone suddenly stomps on their brakes, an accident does happen, almost unavoidably.

I've witnessed many rear end accidents in stop-and-go traffic on clogged highways. The majority of those have been caused by people who were leaving a seemingly large enough gap in front of them. The farther behind a car you are, the longer it takes you to react. Your depth perception does not work as well at 100 ft as it does at 10ft. That safe gap you leave in front of you can disappear without you having a clue until you slam on your brakes when you are going 40 mph faster than the car in front of you.

You are the first person I've ever seen who is pro tailgating. Congrats.

Daniels:You are the first person I've ever seen who is pro tailgating. Congrats.

I'm not advocating anything, just pointing out the flaw in the "safe" following distance rules. I've seen at least a dozen rear end collisions on stop and go highways and the majority were allowing a proper distance running into the back of the last car of a train. The majority of drivers cannot judge the speed of another car from a distance, and the constant sea of brake lights makes that visual cue less useful.

foxyshadis:Truckers who swing into the other lane, or idiots who slam on their brakes for basically no reason other than they weren't paying attention until they saw traffic slow down, end up causing ripple effects that bring the flow of traffic to a dead halt no matter where people merge. Despite the actual capacity of a lane being fairly high, some people won't drive more than 10 MPH if there's a crew nearby, even on the other side of concrete dividers. Goes double for truckers desperate to save on diesel - I've seen one leave a mile-long gap in front by the time I got past construction and around him.

Fair enough. And, to be honest, I usually aim to merge in front of truckers because I know they will usually leave a wide enough gap to merge in front of. The ones I really hate are the people who fly down and merge through the double white lines just expecting there to be an opening. I try to drive half onto the double-white as I take the exit and watch the few yahoos behind merge wayyyyyyyyyy back knowing that there is no opening.

My theory was that they would eventually learn, but that would require doing it every 30 seconds of rush hour for 2 hours.

One thing I saw was a State Police Trooper parked his car with lights on at the double whites one morning and traffic never flowed better. Everyone in line doing 40 instead of 15 right until the exit.

I'm currently learning to drive, so I just want to preemptively apologize to everyone else on the road for all the mistakes I'm gonna make while I get the hang of things.

/currently everyone gives me a ton of slack because of the giant DRIVERS SCHOOL sign on top of the car//not 16///just had panic disorder and decided it was better to wait until I was mentally healthy than to have a meltdown at 70 mph